Having quick and reliable access to data is one of the biggest trends companies are seeing these days, with the cloud, mobility and data analytics solutions driving progress. However, when it comes to turning ROI on these new IT investments, businesses also have to consider the consistency of their data.

According to Data Center Knowledge, much of business IT – specifically data quality and consistency – relies on mainframe design. The proper structure for mainframe design, in terms of user interface and the client-server architecture, is standardized around another technology that companies rely on, ERP software.

Inventory management, account and business management software all rely on enterprise resource planning solutions to optimize and integrate properly. The news source noted that, as firms embrace new technologies, from Software-as-a-Service to virtualization, manufacturing ERP software continues help manage the one resource that is critical for all of them – data.

This puts data quality and control into the spotlight at all times, and companies have to adapt accordingly, focusing on both the speed of their data management and the accessibility of raw data and the results of analytics. Gartner has predicted that analytics will continue to rise, and proper utilization of data and control over the processes that feed into it will be essential.

"By 2016, 70 percent of the most profitable companies will manage their processes using real-time predictive analytics or extreme collaboration," Gartner predicted in 2013 at its annual Business Process Management Summit. 

By investing in and deploying higher-quality business management software solutions, firms will be able to leverage their information more effectively across all areas of operations, supporting new and old technologies and the general rise in data usage. Ultimately, it will require continued upgrades of these systems to remain competitive and relevant in tomorrow's markets.